The Brother ADS-1500W scanner is the first of a pair of wireless small office/home office scanners the company is releasing this month; the two fall between its recently redesigned portable wireless scanners and its ADS-2500W workhorse.

The 1500W can scan docs or images directly to the more popular social media and cloud sites like Evernote, Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, Google Drive, Box and Microsoft’s SkyDrive (though there’s no mention of Dropbox in the press release). Scans can be sent to a Mac, or an iDevice with the help of Brother’s iPrint&Scan app.

Everything is controlled through a 2.7-inch touchscreen display on the front of the scanner, and there’s a USB port for scanning to a USB flash drive. Scan resolution tops out at 600 dpi (1200 dpi interpolated). Maximum scan speed is a pretty quick 18 ppm in color, and the scanner comes with a 20-sheet document feeder to help make that possible.

The ADS-1500W is available now for $299. Brother’s other new scanner, the $250 ADS-1000W, hasn’t officially been announced, but is already up at the company’s website. Biggest differences? No touchscreen display and slightly slower scan speeds on the 1000W.

About the author

When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path — which explains why he's Cult of Mac's test editor-at-large. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of Wired.com and BIKE Magazine, among others. Hang with him on Twitter.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address) | Read more posts by Eli Milchman.